Integral base plate/spin motor assembly with taped cover

A disk drive apparatus comprising a housing including a cover, a lower plate having a top surface and a bottom surface with said cover and said lower plate thereby defining a disk enclosure, and an electronics circuit board having means thereon for providing signal processing to a host computer;

• at least one storage disk rotatably mounted within said housing;
• drive means for rotating at least one storage disk;
• read/write transducer means for writing information on and reading information from said at least one storage disk;
• support means for supporting said read/write transducer means and for positioning said read/write transducer means at a selected one of a plurality of substantially circular, concentric tracks on said at least one storage disk;
• and circuit means for communicating electrical signals between said read/write transducer means and said electronics circuit board wherein said electronics circuit board includes first connection means for providing drive signals to said disk drive means, said first connection means including contact pads embedded in said electronics circuit board, and said drive means includes second connection means directly contacting said first connection means for electrically connecting said drive means to said electronics circuit board, said second means including spring finger connections projecting outwardly from said lower plate with each said spring finger connection having an elongated member which is located along a line parallel to the bottom surface of said lower plate, each said spring finger connection contacting one of said contact pads to electrically connect said drive means to said electronics circuit board.

A disk drive apparatus comprising a housing having an overall maximum height not greater than 17 mm and including a cover, a lower plate having a top surface and bottom surface with said cover and said lower plate thereby defining a disk enclosure, and a printed electronics circuit board having a maximum thickness not greater than 0.040 inches and IC chips mounted on one side thereof for providing signal processing to a host computer, wherein all of said IC chips face said bottom surface of said lower plate;

• at least one storage disk rotatably mounted within said housing;
• a spin motor for rotating said at least one storage disk, said spin motor including a hollow stator hub formed as a one-piece construction with said lower plate;
• at least one date read/write head having a maximum height of not greater than 0.024 inches for writing information on and reading information from said at least one storage disk;
• support means for supporting said at least one data read/write head and positioning said at least one head at a selected one of a plurality of substantially circular, concentric data tracks on said at least one data read/write head and said printed electronics board wherein said electronics circuit board includes first connection means for providing drive signals to said drive means, said first connection means including contact pads embedded in said electronics circuit board, and said drive means includes second connection means directly contacting said first connection means for electrically connecting said drive means to said electronics circuit board, said second means including spring finger connections protecting outwardly from said lower plate with each said spring finger connection being an elongated member which is located along a line parallel to the bottom surface of said lower plate, each said spring finger connection contacting one of said contact pads to electrically connect said drive means to said electronics circuit board.

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a housing including a top cover and a lower plate having a top surface and a bottom surface;
• an electronics circuit board having means thereon for providing signal processing to a host computer;
• at least one storage disk rotatably mounted within said housing;
• a spin motor for rotating said at least one storage disk and including a hollow stator hub in which electrical windings are mounted, said spin motor being formed as a one-piece construction with said lower plate, and wherein a rotary shaft of a cup-shaped rotor is rotatably positioned in said hollow stator hub, said spin motor further including permanent magnets mounted on said cup-shaped rotor and annular bearings mounted between said stator hub and said cup-shaped rotor to assist in rotation of said rotor;
• read/write transducer means for writing information on and reading information from said at least one storage disk;
• support means for supporting said read/write transducer means and for positioning said read/write transducer means at a selected one of a plurality of substantially circular, concentric data tracks on said at least one storage disk;
• and
• circuit means for communicating electrical signals between said read/write transducer means and said electronics circuit board wherein said electronics circuit board includes first connection means for providing drive signals to said spin motor, said first connection means including contact pads embedded in said electronics circuit board, and said spin motor includes second connection means directly contacting said first connection means for electrically connecting said spin motor to said electronics circuit board, said second means including spring finger connections protecting outwardly from said lower plate with each said spring finger connection being an elongated member which is located along a line parallel to the bottom surface of said lower plate, each said spring finger connection contacting one of said contact pads to electrically connect said spin motor to said electronics circuit board.